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Prepared via Thujone
Calea zacatechichi (extract)
by Lee
Citation:   Lee. "Prepared via Thujone: An Experience with Calea zacatechichi (extract) (exp44742)". Erowid.org. Jul 28, 2005. erowid.org/exp/44742

 
DOSE:
3.5 bowls smoked Calea zacatechichi (dried)
    oral Calea zacatechichi (extract)
    smoked Calea zacatechichi (extract)
BODY WEIGHT: 145 lb
It was a bout 2 weeks ago from tonight that I decided to research the hell out of the calea z. plant. Reading most of the experience reports, I see that a lot of people don't get the satisfaction that they're looking for. Some most likely being the kind of person just trying to get fucked up. Although, I do enjoy a good dose of mind rendering action involving SOME drugs. Calea is definitely not one of those kind of drugs. It's for those trying to get that kind of feeling of well-being, partially caused from recalling dreams (it adds to the imagination, open-mindedness, and regularity of my life). And for those seeking the 'lucid dreams'. In other words, the feeling of being awake while dreaming.

I am a regular, few times a day, pot smoker. And sometimes the occasional trip, like LSD or Psilocybin Mushrooms... maybe even some oxycodone (rarely). I'll also add that I had no other drugs on the same days as my experimental attempts. This report is based upon my night two nights ago. But to begin with, it might be more helpful if I should specify the first 2 different attempts on 2 different nights.

FIRST ATTEMPT (11:15pm)

Mind Set - excited, yet, little sleepy already
Preparation(s) - tried to make a tea using 1 to 2 grams of calea and about 6 oz of water... in the microwave (it's ok, laugh), then decided to try smoking a bowl of it within 5 minutes of going to bed (11:50pm)
Result - I didn't get any lucid dreams, nor did I remember much of any dreams. It wasn't very bitter tasting tea either. Most people claim that it's the most repulsive drink blah blah blah. (I'm not saying that it's not yuk, but trust me, WAY worse things out there!) The only thing that I remenber getting out of calea this time was that as soon as I went to bed, thoughts started racing through my head. Really weird, weird things that I just don't normally think about... which wasn't bad in any way. And also, smoking it leaves me with a slight euphoria for about 15 minutes.
Aftermath - felt fine the next day, nothing out of the ordinary. I wouldn't recommend using the microwave to try to boil a cup of calea in water, it just doesn't work. I probably should've smoked a little more too.

SECOND ATTEMPT (12:30pm)

Mind Set - determined to prepare it better (this wasn't easy considering that I didn't have a working stove yet) pretty awake, though not even close to any kind of hyperness.
Preperation(s) - pretty much the same as the first. I'm not going into much detail as this night I had no recollection of dreams. the doses were just a little more (smoked a bigger bowl and used a little more in the tea) Went to bed at around 1:30am.
Aftermath - very refeshed and alive feeling the next morning. Even on my way to work I felt content and peacful, which I usually feel dead and annoyed on my way to work. The calea was very handy in this situation, and I had a great time at work.

THE ATTEMPT OF SUCCESS (10:20pm)

Now that I have a working oven, I can try what I've been wanting to do more than making the tea over the stove... extraction. 3 days ago I decided to let about 4 oz of calea steep in about 8 oz of hard alcohol (53% alc/vol). Now this wasn't just vodka or something, I used a 35mg thujone absinthe. Which is interesting because I'm sure that it had some boosted effect due to the thujone content (35mg being high thujone content). The extraction method will work fine with any strong alcohol, the stronger the better. I also smoked a lot more than the other 2 times. I think I smoked 3 or 4 nice bowls this time.

Mind Set - excited, slightly nervous (I didn't want to push it too far), not very tired at all.
Preparation(s) - THE SPECIFICS OF MY EXTRACTION METHOD: I boiled about 20oz of water in a pot with about 3 grams of calea down to around 3 oz of liquid (stove had been fixed over vacation (a promise from my landlord)), strained into a rinsed out 20oz iced tea bottle (this was just to maybe give it a little more potency, this step could be skipped if desired), shove 4oz more of calea in there, and then poured the absinthe in. Put the cap on very tightly and shook the shit out of it. Conveniently, I went camping for a few nights, so I wasn't tempted to finish the process too soon.

When I had arrived from vacation (which was only the night before last), I went to examine the sludge. Well, actually it should look about the same as after a couple hours after first mixing them. Except the liquid part was way more of a darker greenish-brown color. I gave it one last big shake before it was going on the stove. Boiled on medium (BE VERY VERY CAREFUL, HIGH ALCOHOL CONTENT = EXTREMELY FLAMABLE). I boiled for a little longer than most people probably would, even though it might have burned a little chemical away, I wasn't worried about it considering it was going to be potent anyway. The slightly longer boil resulted in an easier to manage, kind of flaky sustance. Which I was able to smoke that night. Unlike the nasty goopy shit I get by not boiling quite as long. Scraping the crusty residue from around the pot and letting it air dry only for a little while until ready to smoke.

Now I wanted to injest this orally too, but had no gel caps to empty. So, I threw a chunk into a very small glass of water, a chunk about the size that would need 2 gel caps to fit, and gulped it down. It tasted pretty gross, but was nothing that some cola couldn't wash down (this was around 10:45pm). Shorlty after that, I smoked a few good size bowls (in my bong this time), Which by the way tasted much better and was smoother than smoking it in a pipe. And seeing how it's just chunky, brown, hard crumbles, I felt much safer smoking it in my bong this time because of the water filter. Then I went right to bed at 11:00pm.

Aftermath - My mind felt so relaxed after I hit the bed, although it took a half hour to an hour to get to sleep. DAMN... if any of this experimenting was any kind of inconvenience for me, which I don't think it was, it was WELL worth it. Considering that I FINALY had a lucid dream, maybe 2. It started with a really weird rushing feeling, and it almost felt as if I could feel wind hitting my face. I tilted my head up and looked around to see if I was even asleep yet. My room wasn't my room. The strange thing with this was, that I was still only partially convinced that I was dreaming. I started to sit up more, forming into a stance and WOOSH! I was flying through the woods on a horse. I've never even been on a horse in my life, so the way that I dreamt the details of the ride probably isn't politically correct. But holy shit, I could feel every bounce and thump. The wind, leaves and little splashes of water were all so noticably realistic. I realized very shortly that this dream also had a theme and a setting (besides the woods). This was definitely medieval times. There were a few others around me, I could see a few of them, but I heard all of their yelling and ranting while storming through the woods. I felt so free. I was literally in complete control of my horse. I could turn here, dodge this, jump over that, etc.

Unfortunately, it ended too soon for me. I think that I was having too much fun. After this dream, I had 5 to 6 normal, although unusually long, non-lucid dreams. One of them almost felt like it was going lucid on me, but I just couldn't grasp ahold of that reality/dream world. The next morning I felt the usual goodness that I get out of calea, refreshed, energized and ready to go. I did not have any of the weirdness the next morning though, like others have reported (the fact that they can't seem to realize if they had woken up or not, which I could see being a little too weird maybe, maybe not).

In conclusion, this had to have been my BEST night of dreaming EVER! I can hardly ever remember any of my dreams, on average, maybe once or twice a month if I'm lucky. I've never even had that kind of dreaming when I was young and full of imagination (at least that I can remember, and I do remember highlighted dreams from much much youger).
My extraction method, not being all that different from other extractions using hard alcohol, seemed to work out safely and the effects were superb. I'm currently letting more steep right now in some firewater. I make sure to never test my limits with drugs. It's obviously better to enjoy drugs, rather than letting them put me in a state of permanent side effects, or kill me.

Exp Year: 2005ExpID: 44742
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 28, 2005Views: 38,130
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Dreams (85), Calea zacatechichi (97) : Alone (16), Preparation / Recipes (30), Glowing Experiences (4)

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